By WILLIAM ARNOLD, P-I MOVIE CRITIC

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, June 22, 2006

Who, holding a television remote control, has not dreamed of magically being able to apply the instrument to the rest of one's world -- to mute the boring, fast-forward through the tedious and pause or slow-play life's more precious moments?

It's such a universal fantasy that it's a wonder no one has thought of doing it as a movie long ago. And it offers so many comic possibilities that it's wistful to think of what a Buster Keaton or Woody Allen might have done with the concept.

But we're stuck with Adam Sandler doing it in "Click," a formulaic star vehicle that, after a smattering of clever gags, soon disintegrates into a jarring mess that's half roller coaster of scatology and half maudlin rehash of "It's a Wonderful Life."

There are some laughs and the movie is so crammed full of copulating dogs, potty humor and sex jokes of the kind that have worked like a charm at the box office in recent summers that the movie probably will take in more money than "The Da Vinci Code."

But it's an unimaginative, mean-spirited affair that makes you hate yourself for laughing at it, and it's so devoid of anything close to wit, subtlety or sophistication that it stands as damning evidence that Hollywood has surrendered wholesale to stupidity and crassness.

Sandler plays Michael Newman, a harried, overworked New York architect who is so busy with his career that he doesn't have much time to spend with his beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale), two swell kids and oversexed golden Retriever.

One night, looking for a new TV remote, he goes into the Bed Bath & Beyond at his local mall, wanders into the storeroom and meets an eccentric inventor (Christopher Walken) who gives him, for free, a universal remote control to his universe.

He first uses it to silence his wife, then to fast-forward through the dog doing its business during a walk, and before long he's pausing events, rewinding through his past and jumping into his future -- only to discover this power can be a curse.

Director Frank Coraci (Sandler's "The Wedding Singer" and "The Waterboy") does well with the possibilities of the premise in a few scenes and there's some funny topical humor, but the script loses inspiration fast and soon can't think of anywhere to go but low.

In the last act, as the hero zips to the future and learns the lesson that he should spend more time with his family, the script suddenly turns off the crudity and turns on the gushing sentimentality. It's like adding insult to injury.